Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-05-12
THE FOOD WE EAT.
A Branch of Sanitary knowledge in Which
Much Progress Has Been Made.

A Branch of Sanitary knowledge in Which
Much Progress Has Been Made.
We know of no department of san
itary knowledge and care in which
more progress has been made than that
which relates to the proper choice and
preparation of foods. 1t is a depart
ment of study that has been pursued
both in the direction of science and ex-
perience. Those having charge of
dietaries have carefully examined into
the results from the use of various
foods, while the chemist has been busy
in those experiments which have con-
firmed or corrected the apparent re-
suits of experience. In addition to this
the process of digestion has become
much better understood so that we are
able to make choice with reference to
the capacity of the different parts of
the digestive apparatus.
It's now safe to adapt dietaries to the
varied demands made upon the human
system. Not only is the training of the
athlete based largely on the dietetic
regimen, but foods are adapted to the
callings of men, and we can distin-
guish quite accurately between the
flesh or tissue forming and the force
generating foods. There never was a
time when the person of self-control
could so easily put into the human ma
chine just the food adapted to his par
ticular wants. While we are not very
hopeful that the great electrician will
invent a. machine that will supplant the
usual mode of food production, we
know it would be greater boon to the
world if every person should learn to
use only such and so much food as is
needed, and should have in view the
proper running and repair of the in
strument he has in charge. The old
division into heterogeneous and non-ni.
trogenous foods is valuable as
guide, and all the more since we
are able more fully to define when and
how they supplement or replace each
other Chemistry has not only defined
the constituents of food and the con.
stituents of the human body, but also
the modes in which the interchanges
occur. 1t is not enough that albumen
exists in the egg. or that it is needed
and found in the flesh. We must
know how it is converted. If we find
that the egg as furnished in a hard
boiled state or as heated and cooked in
cake will not give up its albumen as
food, it matters but little that so much
albumen was eaten. If again we can
furnish sugar by furnishing starch il
greatly modifies the degree in which we
need to supply sugar direct. No one
can take up any recent book on the
chemistry of foods without perceiving
that we have gotten clear of much that
was vague as to the action and value
of food, and are able to speak with
positiveness of their action.
Not less valuable is our knowledge
of how to adapt foods to the condition
of certain organs or to certain indica
tons of disease. If the stomach is de.
bilitated in its functions, we so use
matted or peptonized foods as to do in
advance, part of the work of stomach
digestion. If the liver or pancreas OIL
the glands of the intestinal tract are
embarrassed, we avail ourselves Of
foods that require little or no service
from these organs. The use of only
cold meats and of no fats is as clear an
indication in some cases as the free use
of oily foods is in others. 1t is now
possible for us to cure many disease;
and relieve others by dietetic medica.
ton. Better still, the laws of food ust
are definite enough to enable those who
understand them. or who will follow
them, to prevent many diseases and tc
add to the effective force of their lives.
N 7, Independent